Telephone system



(N model.) 2 sheets-sheet 1.

A. F. SWAN. TELEPHONE vSYSTEM.

PatentedlDeo. 8,1896.

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(No Model.) 2 sheets-#sheet 2.

A. F. SWAN. TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

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NTTED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

`ALFRED F. SWAN, OF BAYONNE, NEV JERSEY.

TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 572,840, dated` December 8, 1896.

Application filed July 11,. 1895. Serial No. 555,594. (No model.)

To all whom, t may con/05311111.-

Be it known that I, ALFRED F. SWAN, of Bayonne, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone Systems, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in telephone systems, and the object of my invention is to provide means in connection with any ordinary telephone instruments whereby several parties or instruments may be arranged on a line and any desired instrument cnt in to the circuit while the others are at the same time cut out, so that either party on the line can carry on a conversation without fear of being heard or interrupted by other parties on the line.

A further object of my invention is to make the apparatus by which the above result is accomplished as simple and durable as possible, to the end that the system may be cheaply constructed and used without difiiculty.

To these ends my invention consists of a telephone system the construction and arrangement of which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus'used in connection with each telephone instrument to effect the proper shunting of the current. Fig. 2 is a broken plan view of said apparatus. Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic viewshowing the arrangement of the switch barrel and brushes. view showing the system as arranged on a three-party line and with one telephone instrument in circuit and the others on the line cut out; and Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but shows a different arrangement of the circuit whereby a different instrument is in position for use.

In connection with each telephone instrument a rotary switch-barrel 10 is used, which is mounted on suitable supports 11 and has its shaft 12 provided with a hand or pointer 13, adapted to move opposite a dial 14 at one end of the switch-barrel, and as the switchbarrels on all the instruments of a party line Fig. 4 is a diagrammaticy are simultaneously and similarly moved, as

will hereinafter appear, it will be seen that the hand and dial will indicate which of the instruments on the lineis in use.

The switch-barrel 10 is provided near opposite ends with a series of circuit making and breaking surfaces 15 and 16, the former being of conducting and the latter of nonconducting material, and the switch-barrel turns in contact with conducting-brushes 17 and 18, which are arranged in pairs, as the .drawings clearly show, and are fastened to suitable supports 19. t The conducting and insulating surfaces 15 and 1G of the different series of such'surfaces, that is, at the two -ends of the barrel 10,'are arranged in relaat zero, so that any telephone can be rung up at the central'ofiica and also enable each telephone to be in circuitwhen its switch-barrel is turned and its call-bell rung. lf it were not for this plural arrangement of the conducting and insulating strips, each telephone would be out of circuit as soon as the switchbarrel turned.

This system is particularly desirable in suburban localities, and the plural arrangement of conducting and insulating strips referred to enables two parties whose relations may be intimate to place themselves in circuit and cut the others on the line out with great facility. For instance, supposing there are four or five telephones on a party line, the insulating and conducting strips of two of them, say No. 2 and No. 5, can be arranged so that both such instruments will be in circuit at the same time and so the operator at the central station can step both switches around, as hereinafter described, until both are in circuit, when conversation can be carried on without being heard at the other stations.- By having the instruments at zero when not in use much time is saved in making the daily mornin g tests, as is now the prac- IOO tice, for in this case it is not necessary to test l each instrument separately and consecutively.

Each switch-barrel has at one end a ratchet- Wheel 12, which is engaged and turned by a paWl 21, carried by an armature 22, which is pivoted, as shown, at 23, and is pulled in one direction by a magnet 24 and in the opposite direction by a spring 25, this arrangement being substantially like that of an ordinary telegraph-sounder and capable of the usual modiiica tion. The operation of this part of the apparatus is apparent, that is to say, the energizing of the magnet 24 causes the pawl 21 to be pulled down and so turns the ratchet-Wheel, while the denergizing of the magnet liberates the pawl and permits the spring 25 to lift it the distance of a tooth on the ratchet-wheel. Hence the making and breaking of the circuit Willcause the ratchet- Wheel and switch-barrel to be turned, the distance depending on the number of the makes and breaks.

Each shunting or switch apparatus is used in connection with an ordinary telephone 26, which is provided With a push-button 27 of the usual kind, and the circuit is controlled by a push-button 28 at the central office. As illustrated, the circuit is a closed one and is opened by pushing either the button 27 or 28.

The drawings show three stations A, B, and C on a line, and the connections are as follows: A battery D connects by a Wire d With the ground and by a Wire d with the push-button 28, magnet 24 of telephone A, and with the telephone apparatus in the usual Way. The Wire CZ also connects with one of the brushes 17 of telephone A. From the telephone A a Wire d2 leads to one of the brushes 18, and from the second brush 18 leads a Wire cl3, connecting With the push-v button 27 of telephone A, the magnet 24 and one of the brushes 17 of telephone B, and also with the said telephone B. From the telephone B a Wire d4 leads to one of the brushes 18 of the switch-barrel 10 of the said telephone, and from the second brush 18 the Wire d5 connects with the push-button 27 of the telephone B, the magnet 24, and one brush 17 of telephone C, and with the telephone C. The telephone C connects, by a Wire d, with one brush 18 of telephone C, and the second brush 18 connects, by a Wire C17, with the push-button 27 of telephone C and with the ground. The leading-Wires d3, d5, and d'7 connect, by branch wires d8, With the second brushes 17 of the respective telephones, and thus provision is made for a complete circuit, and it will be noticed that this arrangement can be carried out to any necessary extent, so that any desired number of telephones Within reasonable limits may be arranged on a single line.

The instruments are normally at zero and in circuit, and when any instrument is to be placed in use a sufficient number of pulsations is set through the line to turn the switchbarrel of the desired instrument into position to cut in said instrument and cut out the other instruments; for instance, as illustrated, telephone A is No. 1, B No. 2, and C No. 3. Now if telephone A is to be placed in circuit from the central station the operator pushes the button 28 so as to break the circuit and permit paWl 2l to rise, and then releases it and the circuit is closed, the magnet 24 0i each .instrument energized, and all the switch-barrels turned the distance of one tooth on the ratchet-wheel 20. The circuit Will then be as follows (see Fig. 4): From the battery D through the Wire d to the ground, and from the battery through the Wire d', the push-button 28, the magnet 24 to the telephone A, the current being cut out from the brushes 17 of telephone A because the said brushes are on an insulating-surface 16 of the switch-barrel 10. From the telephone A the circuit continues through the Wire d2, one of the brushes 18, a conducting-surface 15 of the switch-barrel of telephone A, the second brush 18 of telephone A, the wire d3, the pushbutton 27 of telephone A, the magnet 24 of telephone B, one of the brushes 17 of telephone B, a conductingsurface 15 of the switch-barrel, the second brush 17 of telephone B, the Wire d3 of telephone B, the Wire d5, the magnet 24 of telephone C, the brushes 17, the conducting-surface 15 of the switchbarrel of telephone C, the Wire d8, and the Wire @Z7 to the ground.

If telephone B, or No. 2, is to be rung up, the switch-barrels are turned two notches, and if telephone C is to be placed in circuit the switch-barrels are moved a distance of three notches by making the necessary makes and breaks in the line, and in the latter instance the instruments or switch-barrels assume the position shown in Fig. 5, which brings the brushes 18 of telephones A and B upon the insulating-surfaces 16 of their respective switch-barrels, thus cutting out the said instruments, and brings the brushes 18 of telephone C into contact With a conductingsurface of the switch-barrel of telephone C, thus cutting in the said telephone, and the circuit is then as follows: From the battery D, through the Wire d, to the ground, and from the battery, through the Wire CZ, the push-button 28, the magnet 24, the brushes 17 and switch-barrel 10 of telephone A, the Wire d8 of telephone A, the Wire d3, the magnet 24, the brushes 17, and conducting-surface of the switch-barrel of telephone B, the Wire d8 of telephone B, the Wire d5, the magnet 24 of telephone C, the telephone C, the Wire d6, one of the brushes 18 of telephone C, a conductingsurface 15 of telephone C, the second brush 18 of telephone C, and the Wire C17, through the push-button 27 of telephone C, to the ground. From the foregoing description and by reference to Figs. 4 and 5 it Will be observed that the brushes 17 serve to cut the instruments out of circuit and that the brushes 18 serve to cut the instruments in circuit.

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It will be noticed that the movement of the switch-,barrels is made by makes and breaks in the circuit, and consequently the movement can be effected by operating either the pushbutton 28 or one of the push-buttons 27.

After using the instruments the push-button is manipulated at the central office so as to make the necessary makes and breaks to cause the instruments to all be turned back to zero.

It Will be understood that the connections at the central ofce to connect one party line with another may be of any usual kind, and hence no illustration or description of such mechanism is here presented.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentton for making and breaking the circuit, all

substantially as described.

ALFRED F. SWAN. Vitnesses:

WILLIAM D. PEcK, WARREN B. I-IuTcHINsoN. 

